Celestian Tales: Old North - an epic of love, faith and justice bringing retro RPG to Kickstarter

There aren’t too many Indonesian games being pitched on Kickstarter, so it’s interesting to see one making its appearance today. That game is Celestian Tales: Old North, and it’s being developed by Bandung-based game studio Ekuator Games.

Inspired by classic RPG titles in the 90s, Old North is a computer-based RPG game with a retro feel. There are six playable characters inside the game, each with multiple ending scenarios. The team promises 20 hours of gameplay for each character.

Ekuator Games is putting a lot of emphasis on its game story development, as the characters will go through three decades of adventure. Ekuator representative Cipto Adiguno tells more about the team’s philosophy:

Ekuator focuses on storytelling, and for us the game boasts more mature storyline with freedom of choice and the consequences which come with it. So many RPGs (especially J-RPGs) have the same story: chosen one destined to save the world. We deviate from that same old cliché and craft a deeper narrative.

Old North is not a simple fantasy cliché of a 'chosen one' or 'saving the world'. There's neither time-stopping nor god-killing involved. Magic has very little influence, and the strength of sly words outmatch even the strongest incantations. It is a story of mundane struggles, of hardships and grief as well as happiness and joy. It is a journey of mere mortals which will reach out to your deepest emotions. There is neither good nor evil, no blacks and whites, in a world of men and their humanly traits.
Some of the game's features are:

• Six playable characters with differing play experiences. Each character has deep personality, combat style, equipments, private stories, cut scenes, special arts, and decisions to be made in the game.
• Multiple conclusions for each character, totalling more than fifteen possible variations, affected by your own choices throughout the game. 
• Over 20 hours of gameplay time per character.
• Well-written fantasy setting and lores raising real-world issues which will connect deeper with your own life stories.
• Compelling storyline spanning three decades, following the characters' journey of life while they grow and mature from their experiences.
• Dynamic encounters which turns combat encounters into a form of entertainment itself. Hide from enemies, learn the nature of their movements, avoid them or just bash them all -- it depends on how you want to play the game.
• Tactically revamped classic combat with turn-based resource-management system. Combat puts emphasis on strategy and team customization, enough to keep you up but not too much that it turns boring and distracts the focus on narrative.
• Rewarding explorations, optional side quests and light mini-games make their return to restore the nostalgic feelings of an old school RPG.
• Wonderful music to enhance your play experience and mood in the game world.
• Various accompaniments to further immerse you in the world's lores, in the form of a graphic novel and an artbook. Celestian Tales encompasses a vast original setting, and stories from all over the continents are abound!

Some of the game's screenshots:

And some beautiful artworks of Celestian Tales:

Built using Unity, Celestian Tales: Old North will be able to run on PC, Mac, and Linux. If everything goes smoothly, the team will release Celestian Tales: Old North in August 2014 at retail price of between $12 to $14, depending on the resellers’ terms. If you’re one of those classic RPG lovers and appreciate multiple ending scenarios in games, then you might want to check and back the team’s campaign on Kickstarter.